Question for your board:

[Upstate]

Just my personal opinion, but I think many in the media are really underselling the significance of losing Kemba. He's really a once-every-30-years kind of player. Do you guys feel the same way? Do you think his leadership and fire are going to be missed, and this fact is getting thrown to the wayside? Or is someone, or everyone cumulatively, is going to be able to step up in that regard? Kemba had huge stones. Just doesn't seem that easy to replace a guy like him. Excited for GameDay.

 

[Leebo]

We are doomed, we might not win any games without Kemba.

 

[Huskybass]

The hope is that between Shabazz, Oriakhi, Lamb and Boatright they will each step up and fill the void collectively. Kemba had an unreal Jr. year and I can only think of a few others who were so important to their team in a championship run. Danny Manning in 88 comes to mind, and perhaps John Wallace from Syracuse in the final 4 run in 96.

 

[Kitaman]

Those are questions that the coaches are addressing as we type. There are no definitive answers, Its wait and see. Remember too you have to put Kemba in the context of one season and not his career.

Therefore Kemba is not irreplaceable, however he is not easy to replace. It will take a collective effort that's for sure.

 

[husky99]

Just my personal opinion, but I think many in the media are really underselling the significance of losing Kemba. He's really a once-every-30-years kind of player. Do you guys feel the same way?.

He's really a once-every-30-years kind of player--PG or overall? I disagree either way...

but agree 100% that no kemba = growing pains... if Lamb has the eye of the tiger then it will be a less of a bumpy road

 

[Yonick]

I disagree on the once every 30 year player. Hey, Kemba was great for UConn, but, just in the last 15 years we've had RIP, Kahlid, Caron, Emeka, &Ben. Let alone Donyell, Ray, and many others.

 

[Waquoit]

Just my personal opinion, but I think many in the media are really underselling the significance of losing Kemba.

Kemba's loss has been factored in. Why else would we be ranked only 4th?

 

[Nully]

I've heard there's a 6' PG walk-on guard with a large, conspicuous mustache named Ken Walton who's looking VERY impressive in practice.

 

[caw]

Just my personal opinion, but I think many in the media are really underselling the significance of losing Kemba. He's really a once-every-30-years kind of player. Do you guys feel the same way? Do you think his leadership and fire are going to be missed, and this fact is getting thrown to the wayside? Or is someone, or everyone cumulatively, is going to be able to step up in that regard? Kemba had huge stones. Just doesn't seem that easy to replace a guy like him. Excited for GameDay.

Kemba was great. He was particularly great at hitting game winners. This team doesn't have that player established yet. However, Drummond is (unless he plays worse than Fab Melo as a freshman) a huge upgrade over at the 4/5 from last year. Our starting 4/5 averaged either 3 and 3 or less last year, depending on if you are talking about Olander or Okwaundu. I say Drummond easily doubles that, if not better.

Lamb, Oriakhi, Napier and Smith all are starters who have the ability to grow by leaps and bounds over last year.

Giffey and Olander probably see some improvement. Then you replace Beverly with Boatright (should be a pretty good upgrade) and Jamal Coombs-McDaniel with DD (at worse a toss up).

Of course no single player will be Kemba Walker, but the team was so young last year, you expect improvement almost to a man which should fill the void left by Kemba. Also, as witnessed almost every year, UConn plays fantastic defense which will keep them in many games and then some. Personally, I hope the offense is so balanced that they don't need a Kemba to hit winners, but rather are winning by a substantial margin.

 

[Huskymaniac]

Just my personal opinion, but I think many in the media are really underselling the significance of losing Kemba. He's really a once-every-30-years kind of player. Do you guys feel the same way? Do you think his leadership and fire are going to be missed, and this fact is getting thrown to the wayside? Or is someone, or everyone cumulatively, is going to be able to step up in that regard? Kemba had huge stones. Just doesn't seem that easy to replace a guy like him. Excited for GameDay.

Why does a Syracuse fan care about UConn? Unless, of course, you feel threatened and are looking for something to make you feel better about your team. Personally, I feel that your school threw the Big East under the bus and the "cuse" would have been nothing without the Big East. You should be ashamed of your school.

 

[jleves]

Why does a Syracuse fan care about UConn? Unless, of course, you feel threatened and are looking for something to make you feel better about your team. Personally, I feel that your school threw the Big East under the bus and the "cuse" would have been nothing without the Big East. You should be ashamed of your school.

No they shouldn't. If the ACC had come to Pitt and UConn we would all be saying what a great move it was in a dieing BE and how great we are to be asked to jump. They did what was best for them. Are they supposed to make less money to stay in a conference that has no real direction? The previous exodus was horrible and wrecked the league when it could have been saved. Any jump after that is just survival of the fittest. You can't fault any team for leaving considering how the bball only schools held everyone else hostage.

 

[gibhunter]

Kemba's 24 will have to be replaced by committee. Napier ran the team last year at about 24 minutes per game. The other 16 Kemba was the point guard. Napier, Lamb together averaged 18ppg. It's safe to assume that it will about about 26ppg between them this year. Add 8 from Boatright and that's 34. That leaves roughly 18 points to make up from losing Kemba, Chuck and Donnel. You have to assume that Smith and Oriakhi will improve by at least 1ppg. That's 16 points left. Throw in Deandre Daniels for 6ppg and Andre Drummond for 10ppg and the offensive production is made up. Defensively Uconn should be just as good if not better due to basically owning the glass with 6'10 Drummond, 6'9 Oriakhi (510 pounds between them) and 6'8 Smith and/or Daniels. Kemba's perimeter defense will be missed but should be offset by improvement in the paint.

 

[DieHardHusky]

Kemba certainly will be missed, there's no doubt about that. However, like others have mentioned it all depends on how the returning players do this season. Can Lamb keep up what did during Tourny play? Can Bazz step up at the point and be the leader this team needs to run the offense? So and so forth.

 

[Scot-e]

It's not the scoring- it's having the guy who when the other team goes on a 10 point run smiles at them and then makes them pay.

I was worried about being an elite team again without Kemba- I think AD makes all the difference in the world. We have one of the best defensive teams in the country (even without kemba)- but but we were a bit weak in the paint and at the PG. I am not that worried anymore.

I also think besides one of the best front courts in the country you would be hard pressed to find four wings (including Lamb) that will be better in March. DD,RS, NG, JL.

If Bazz and Boat can play smart- watch out.

WE ARE DOOMED!!!!

I love posting after drinks- I am so spot on.

 

[jleves]

Almost every National Championship team loses some key players. We lost our most important, but only one of 4 starters. Our backup center is replaced by Drummond - a huge upgrade. Our tertiary point is replaced by Boatright - again, a significant upgrade is pre-season reports are to be believe. Our oft meligned secondary wing is replace by Daniels which should be an upgrade or at worst a wash if you consider 3rd year vs first year. Really a lot of upgrades in general. That means some improvement by the other 7 guys should replace most of what we lost in terms of scoreing and defense. The big thing we have to have is a go to guy at the end of close games (Lamb hopefully) and a leader (Napier hopefully).

Yeah, Kemba is a huge loss, but new guys and experience we're expecting to equal a huge gain.

 

[RichZ]

The thought of a season without Kemba scared me. Until I remembered that the bus is still being driven by JC. Then I wasn't worried any more.

 

[DogMania]

No doubt Kemba is a big loss, but IMO his gross production will be made up by committee. It's the late game winning time heroics he provided that's hard to replace. Close games are inevitable during one-and-done tourneys, and the difference between moving on and going home is having that player that's not afraid to fail though succeeds more times than not. Do we have that type of player or players? I hope so. We sure had one last season who gave us a season to remember.

 

[ctchamps]

It's a toss up. Kemba had a spectacular season. Not many people not named Michael Jordan, had as many winning clutch shots when games were on the line. He willed an inexperienced team (only Alex had significant experience besides Kemba) to win. He frequently out hustled other players for loose balls and rebounds. There is no way of knowing if these contributions can be replaced.

The excitement for most of us is that in the post season Alex and the freshmen showed poise and contributed significantly to that championship run. The question is whether they can do this without the crutch of Kemba.

jleves analysis of the freshman vs. who the freshman replace is spot on. AD is a potential game changer. So we'll find out over the course of the season if the ranking is correct.

 

[Scot-e]

I might add that I do not blame Quse for leaving- I blame pitt- they are scum and will start their slow decline toward BC status as soon as they get to the ACC.

PE-TOOWEY! I spit on them.

 

[Upstate]

Why does a Syracuse fan care about UConn? Unless, of course, you feel threatened and are looking for something to make you feel better about your team. Personally, I feel that your school threw the Big East under the bus and the "cuse" would have been nothing without the Big East. You should be ashamed of your school.

Don't be mad because Syracuse left for the ACC, just asking a simple question and got some good answers. It's not easy replacing not only a great player, but a great leader. Its funny, because I'm sure most UConn fans would rather be in a stable situation than in the Big East. You're acting as if I was being negative about anything. Kemba was a special player. Special players are much more difficult to replace than solely a great player.

 

[caw]

Just curious, but I see a lot of Cuse fans blowing up how good Cuse is, yet they lost their best and most consistently good player in Jackson.

 

[alexrgct]

Kemba absolutely was a special player, and I think his leadership is really what's going to be difficult to replace. He didn't have signature games in either the national semis or championship game, and other players stepped up and made up the void. That makes me suspect UConn will be able to make up for his numbers. The question is whether Bazz, Napier, and AO can consistently be relied upon to play championship-caliber basketball, especially in tight games against good teams.

On paper, this year's UConn team is pretty damned stacked with a much more formidable frontcourt than last year. We're going to see how the returning players handle having the weight of expectations and leadership on their shoulders. That's not something that can be readily predicted.

I do think that by tourney time, UConn will be a team no one wants any part of.

 

[willie99]

we have talent, size, speed, depth, athletes, length and basketball IQ at every position

I love Kemba, and he is a special player. But it's a mistake to think he won it by himself

We have 6 guys that played key roles returning, and 3 sensational freshmen.

We have a squad of lottery picks, more than I've ever seen.

We'll have a very good offensive team, but our defense and rebounding will be off the charts. Maybe our best ever

I actually think people are weighing the loss of Kemba too much. I expect to be back in NO

 

[Dogbreath2U]

Don't be mad because Syracuse left for the ACC, just asking a simple question and got some good answers. It's not easy replacing not only a great player, but a great leader. Its funny, because I'm sure most UConn fans would rather be in a stable situation than in the Big East. You're acting as if I was being negative about anything. Kemba was a special player. Special players are much more difficult to replace than solely a great player.

It's a good question and time will tell. Many of us feel that Kemba had the greatest season of any Husky. It looks like we have the best freshman class ever (at least in terms of quality if not quantity) and so the talent level may well be higher, but the intangibles.......who knows. The whole team followed Kemba last year and so we had everyone playing defined roles and little dissension of any kind. This year we seem to have a very unexpected surplus of riches and it will be fun to see what will happen.

 

[Upstate]

I actually think people are weighing the loss of Kemba too much.

See, I think the loss of Kemba will be greater than people realize, thats all. Ton of talent on UConn. Just curious if you guys think someone will be able to take over games like he could, and hit the game winner like he had a knack for. It'll be interesting to see how the season plays out. More talent across the nation than there has ever been in my eyes.